No Internet...

We have no internet at our new place yet, so I'm not able to write. I need time :) When writing and editing.

But it will be soon hopefully!

Been a while...

Been way over a year since I blogged :(

I don't have any resolutions to make it regular again, but have thought about it so much lately.

Let me catch you up first...

I'M GETTING MARRIED IN 2.5 MONTHS!

Freaking Epic! E.P.I.C!

There we are, me and the B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L Rita Lee Oliver!

I have some grand ideas that I'll put into words more succinctly in the coming days, stay posted :)

I enjoy my creative side, even if I only share it with a few friends.

I've started looking at a script I wrote at the beginning of last year and I must say I have caught the bug again.

I have particularly enjoyed re-writing. Basically re-imagining what the story could look like. I've kept the characters, but the events are changing. From a snapshot of the mundane, I'm starting to carve out a snapshot of that point in a story, a life, a character, where there is a lot at stake. Not necessarily physical endangerment, but emotionally and psychologically.

Random events do spiral into life changing moments. Strangers do just bump into each other. Story do intersect. This happens in real life.

So, yes. I am excited. I am eager to write a story that challenges me, but not to the point of risking engaging an audience.

I can't give too much away, because it's very much in the early stages.

peace.

Not for me...

Ok...

So it's pretty evident that writing lists don't inspire me at all. Sorry to those who have been expecting a myriad of lists.

They just don't inspire.

But I'll keep writing about other things do!

contemplative.

Being a really introverted thinker person, it's actually amazing how little time I spend contemplating.

Contemplation, meditation is a sort of medication for the over thinker. I think too much, about too, too much of the time.

Learning to meditate has been so refreshing. Distancing myself from the clutter of the hum-drum dreariness of everyday over thinking. Well I'm guilty of that anyway.

So meditation...

It's really once you get into. I read somewhere it's not about banishing random thoughts, or retaining them, but distancing yourself from those thoughts. In the same way a plane takes off and vanishes in the distance, that's what happens to your thoughts when you meditate. It's intentional, where you imagine the thoughts passing you by. They come, they go. You breathe in, you breathe out.

There's a continual drift in and out of thought. At first the heavy traffic congestion of muddle musings, incomplete thoughts, and tomorrows chores. But allow yourself to picture your thoughts moving on, don't hold onto them. Leave them be, they had a momentum coming, let them continue on their way...

I have found the Spiritual Practices section on Mars Hill Bible Churches website really helpful! Have a look here.

A short film that a friend shared with me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs

Films...

It's always hard trying to come up with a conclusive list of favourite things. It's never clear cut. In a few days I might have changed my mind or remembered a film that I forgot to add...

Anyway, without any further delay here it goes!

(Not in any particular order mind you.)

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Directed by Sergio Leonne

I absolutely love this film! IT's slow in patches, but the build up to the different scenes are epic. The characters are brilliant too, the story line and the things the characters go through all builds up on each other. Just brilliant!

2. Half Nelson, Directed by Ryan Fleck

"Dan: Second chances are rare, man. You ought to take better advantage of them."

Probably the line that best defines the film. It's a story about an Inner City School History with a drug habit and his unlikely friendship with one of his students when she finds out his secret. It's slow in parts but it moves swiftly through the lives of those involved. The second time I saw it, I realised that it was a sought of commentary on the despair that exists in seemingly opposite sides of society. I liked it a lot!

3. Reservoir Dogs, Directed by Quentin Tarantino

I'm not that much of a film buff so can't really claim anything when I state something like, "I don't think any other Director has quite done what Tarantino did with his first feature!" Seriously the guy is a genius. His storytelling is brilliant, funnily enough after watching "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", I immediately knew where Tarantino got his inspiration from. If you happen to watch the 1967 classic by Sergio Leone watch a Tarantino film after and see if you can draw the parallels.

4. Waltz with Bashir, Directed by Ari Folman

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict. I found this film challenging. Ari does a good job of intertwining story and imagery, I like how I was drawn into reflecting on my own perspectives on War.

5. Snatch, Directed by Guy Ritchie

Probably my favourite British Gangster flick. Guy Ritchie is a kind of British Tarantino. But still holds his own. His talent as a Writer and Director is evident in this film. The humour, the lines, the seemingly coincidental events that bring his characters together is really well done!

END OF LIST.

Well that is all I have for now. I plan to watch a heap of films this year